Aggarwal elected Speaker, House session begins today

Rishikesh MLA Premchand Aggarwal was on Thursday elected unopposed as the fifth Speaker of Uttarakhand assembly.

Speaker Premchand Aggarwal is greeted by MLAs at the assembly in Dehradun on Thursday.(Vinay Santosh Kumar/HT)

DEHRADUN: Rishikesh MLA Premchand Aggarwal was on Thursday elected unopposed as the fifth Speaker of Uttarakhand assembly.

The three-time BJP legislator took over the post from Protem Speaker Harbans Kapoor. Agrawal was unanimously elected as the Speaker a day before the six-day interim budget session of the assembly is beginning on March 24. Kapoor congratulated the new Speaker of Uttarahand’s fourth assembly.

Aggarwal won the election unanimously as he was the BJP legislature party’s lone candidate who filed nomination on Wednesday.

Kapoor, an eight-time BJP MLA from Dehradun cantonment, was believed to be unhappy over the party decision to support Aggarwal . The senior most BJP legislator had failed to get a berth in the recently constituted 10-member Cabinet headed by chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. But there was no hint of bitterness in Kapoor while conducting the assembly proceedings in the House.

Welcoming the newly elected Speaker, Kapoor described Aggarwal as an active and disciplined politician who never ran away from his struggle for the society’s well being. Kapoor narrated the 56-year-old Aggarwal’s journey in politics which included his participation in the 1991 Ayodhya Temple agitation and in the long drawn out statehood movement for Uttarakhand.

Aggarwal started his political career as a member of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad , Kapoor said. “He (Agrawal) is a three-time legislator from Rishikesh, a seat he first won in 2007.”

Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat spoke about the ascent of Agrawal through the ranks in BJP. “He (Agrawal) started his career as a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh worker. His father Mange Lal, a social worker, was a Sangh pracharak. Aggarwal started his career in BJP as a district president and later became the vice-chairman of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam,” Rawat told the House.

State legislature and parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant hoped that the parliamentary traditions set by the members of the assembly would reach a new height under the guidance of the new Speaker.

Congress veteran Indira Hridayesh hoped that Aggarwal, while conducting the House, wouldn’t be swayed by the brute majority of BJP and follow the criterion of justice.